Physical‐, chemical‐, and biological‐responsive nanomedicine for cancer therapy

Abstract

Cancer therapy is unsatisfactory as it typically has serious side effects, because normal cells in healthy organs are destroyed along with the tumor. Thus, researchers have tried to develop effective therapies with minimal side effects. One such method is to use nanotechnology to carry the drugs or therapeutic agents to the tumor region by secure encapsulation without leakage. Once the nanomedicine enters the target tumor site, it can release therapeutic agents in an effective manner. Accordingly, various nanomedicines have been developed to enhance the efficiency of cancer therapy and minimize the systematic toxicity. Here, we provide an overview and discuss the different types of responsive nanomedicines including physically, chemically, biologically, dual, and multi‐responsive nanomedicines, for the in situ release of cargos in recent years. We propose critical considerations that must be considered for the design of excellent stimuli‐nanomedicine. Furthermore, the possible directions for the development of successful stimuli‐responsive (smart) nanomedicine are highlighted. With the development of responsive nanomedicines, precise and personalized nanomedicine will be realized with great promise in the future. This article is categorized under: Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology

Review of a new bone tumor therapy strategy based on bifunctional biomaterials

“…The development of new supplementary or alternative tumor treatment methods based on biomaterials can avoid these side effects by selective delivery. [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Specifically, photothermal therapy is an emerging treatment method that converts near-infrared (NIR) light into localized thermal energy to destroy tumor tissue. [27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35] Photothermal therapy is based on nanomaterials with strong NIR absorption, such as gold nanoparticles, [36][37][38][39][40][41] carbon nanomaterials, 42,43 magnetic nanoparticles, [44][45][46][47][48] and copper nanomaterials.…”

Cell Membrane Nanotherapeutics: From Synthesis to Applications Emerging Tools for Personalized Cancer Therapy

“…The stimuli‐responsive nanomedicine was proposed as the future of personalized cancer nanomedicine due to increased tumor toxicity, decreased systemic toxicity and drug resistance. [ 171 ] The stimuli‐responsive nanomedicine can be grouped into three subgroups based on the types of stimuli: physical (e.g., ultrasound, light, magnetic), chemical (e.g., enzyme, pH, hydrogen peroxide) and biological (e.g., reactive oxygen species, matrix metalloproteinase 2). [ 171 ] Although stimuli‐responsive nanomedicine seems as a promising tool for personalized medicine, it requires complex, multistep, and tedious synthesis process in order to achieve effective tumor targeting and stimuli responsiveness.…”

Progress of Cancer Nanotechnology as Diagnostics, Therapeutics, and Theranostics Nanomedicine: Preclinical Promise and Translational Challenges

“…Drug carriers of nano dimension that include liposomes, dendrimers, polymerdrug conjugates, polymer micelles, and inorganic NPs are widely studied in drug delivery for this particular approach in cancer chemotherapy [19]. These NPs pass through hyperpermeable blood vessels and preferentially gather in the tumor site by its EPR effect because of the required sizes (typically ranging between 1 nm and 200 nm) [20].…”